CRICH PARISH

Norman Chell (1898–1978)

Trooper

Canadian Expeditionary Force

2293846

Photo courtesy Jack Chell

Notes

Courtesy Jack Chell

Norman Chell was born at Fritchley on 26 April 1898. He was the second of the three children of John Walker Chell and Catherine Rodgers, with two brothers. He also had three older half-siblings from his mother’s previous marriage. Norman was raised at Fritchley but immigrated to to Empress, Alberta, Canada aged eighteen, on 14th July 1916 from Liverpool aboard SS Scandinavian, to join his half-brother Joseph Radford, who had immigrated to Canada in 1907.

Norman settled at the village of Empress in Alberta where he worked as a farmer. He attested, on the 14th May 1918, into the Canadian Expeditionary Force, listed as being a farmer. He served with the rank of Trooper.

After the war, Norman returned to Empress in Alberta and married Violet May Burgess in 1922. They had two children, a daughter and a son. The family later relocated to England in 1935 and settled at Sinfin at Derby. They remained in England for the duration of the Second World War, returning to Canada in 1946. The family settled at the town of Hanna in east-central Alberta and Norman and his wife remained residents of Hanna for the rest of their lives.

Derbyshire Courier
1February 1919
Another local soldier over leave is Trooper Norman Chell, Fritchley, who came from Rhyl last Saturday. Trooper Chell, who is with the Canadians, emigrated to the Dominion in July, 1916, to take up farming with his brother Joseph, in Saskatchewan. He was actively associated with the Fritchley Congregational Church before his emigration, and was the organist there. He expects to be amongst those to be demobilised on his return to Rhyl.

Norman Chell passed away at Hanna in Alberta, Canada, in August 1978, aged eighty years.

Service Record

His attestation papers state he was aged 20 years and 1 month, his height was 5 foot 4 inches and he had brown eyes and hair. He was a Presbyterian with a scar on his right elbow.